Washington Post announces sweeping layoffs, scaling back news coverage

The Washington Post has announced it is laying off one-third of its work force, sharply scaling back the paper's coverage of sports and foreign news.

The cuts, announced on Wednesday, will impact employees across departments with roles in the newsroom's sports, local and foreign sections hit particularly hard.

It marks the latest upheaval for the leading US newspaper, which is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.

Executive editor Matt Murray said the cuts would bring "stability". But the announcement was met with condemnation from the paper's employees and some former leaders, one of whom described it as among the "darkest days in the history of" the storied newspaper.